xx, 542 pages : 25 cm

"From the twelve days of Christmas to the spring traditions of Valentine, Shrovetide, and Easter eggs, through May Day revels and Midsummer fires, and on to the waning of the year, Harvest Home and Hallowe'en, Ronald Hutton takes us on a fascinating journey through the ritual year in Britain. His comprehensive study covers all the British Isles and the whole sweep of history from the earliest written records to the present day. Great and lesser, ancient and modern, Christian and pagan, all rituals are treated with the same attention. The result is a colourful and absorbing history in which Ronald Hutton challenges many common assumptions about the customs of the past and the festivals of the present, debunking many myths, and illuminates the history of the calendar we live by."--Jacket

Includes bibliographical references (pages 428-518) and index

1. The Origins of Christmas -- 2. The Twelve Days -- 3. The Trials of Christmas -- 4. Rites of Celebration and Reassurance -- 5. Rites of Purification and Blessing -- 6. Rites of Hospitality and Charity -- 7. Mummers' Play and Sword Dance -- 8. Hobby-Horse and Horn Dance -- 9. Misrule -- 10. The Reinvention of Christmas -- 11. Speeding the Plough -- 12. Brigid's Night -- 13. Candlemas -- 14. Valentines -- 15. Shrovetide -- 16. Lent -- 17. The Origins of Easter -- 18. Holy Week -- 19. An Egg at Easter -- 20. The Easter Holidays -- 21. England and St George -- 22. Beltane -- 23. The May -- 24. May Games and Whitsun Ales -- 25. Morris and Marian -- 26. Rogationtide and Pentecost -- 27. Royal Oak -- 28. A Merrie May -- 29. Corpus Christi -- 30. The Midsummer Fires -- 31. Sheep, Hay, and Rushes -- 32. First Fruits -- 33. Harvest Home -- 34. Wakes, Revels, and Hoppings -- 35. Samhain -- 36. Saints and Souls -- 37. The Modern Hallowe'en -- 38. Blood Month and Virgin Queen

39. Gunpowder Treason -- 40. Conclusions

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